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This is the blog for Robert Vincent, Chief of Police for the Gulfport (Florida) Police Department. Please feel free to leave comments, but keep in mind that anything appearing on this page may be subject to retention and disclosure in accordance with Florida public records law.

Please keep your posts clean and respectful. Comments are subject to review, and I do not permit lewdness, obscenity, or personal attacks.

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Following the police shooting of Michael Brown in Missourri,
media and public attention focused on conflicting witness statements about what
happened during that tragic encounter. The lack of clarity has spurred many to
press for an increase in the use of body-worn video cameras by police, and our
profession is responding quickly and appropriately.

The International Association of Chiefs of Police has
published a model policy while the Police Executive Research Forum produced an
analysis of the state of the technology. Both of these documents provide
guidance as law enforcement chief administrators face decisions on if and how
to deploy camera systems.

Here in Gulfport, we are ahead of the game, so to speak.
Police officers have been using body-worn cameras for about five years. I initiated
the program as a cheaper alternative to the expensive systems we had been
installing in patrol cars. The body cameras cost about one fifth of what the
in-car systems sell for. Primarily, they have been used by officers who are assigned
vehicles that do not have in-car camera systems. We also issue them to school
resource officers for the purpose of recording any physical interactions with
students. So far, we have had some pretty good results, and I am not aware of
any negative impacts on the officers or the people being recorded.

Our policy on the deployment and use of these camera systems
was last updated in 2013. To be prudent, I have decided to put it up for review
again, this time in consideration of the PERF and IACP publications, as well as
input from the community we serve. To the latter, I recently attended a retreat
with representatives from local law enforcement, the American Civil Liberties
Union, and the National Christian League of Councils. The purpose of the
meeting was to open an ongoing dialogue on how our communities might be best
served by police use of field-recording technology.

While I support the goal of this group, I think it is also
important to consider the input of the public we serve. To that end, I invite
any and all to contact me with your ideas on this subject. Currently some of
the most important decisions to make include the following:

Should we require all on duty officers to wear a
body camera, or should we continue leaving it an optional tool for them to use
at their own discretion?

Should we require officers with body cameras to
record all official conduct, some specific types of conduct, or should they
have discretion over what they record?

Should we require officers to inform people when
they are being recorded?

Each of these, of course, has pros and cons. A “record
everything” policy, for example, could be extremely burdensome in terms of the
workload associated with retrieving and storing the video. The storage costs
would also become very expensive very quickly. Also, I’d hate to ask officers
to focus on operating the camera when they’re dealing with potentially dangerous
situations. We also have to consider the impact that such a policy might have on
our ability to get confessions, or more importantly, victim statements. At this
point, we just don’t know how people will react if they know that everything
they say to a police officer will be recorded.

My plan is to have an updated policy in effect by the New
Year. If you have any suggestions or comments, please let me know. chief@gulfportpolice.com